North East RadioWatch: April 4, 2001

Take Me Out to the Ban Game

We're back! Thanks for your patience over the last few days as
we've been tied up with some projects unrelated to the wild world of
Northeast radio and television (if anyone's interested in a magazine
article about a very interesting murder trial, e-mail your editor...)
Before spending six days in a courtroom in Niagara Falls, we piloted
the NERW-mobile into western Pennsylvania for a visit to the Frank
Conrad garage demolition; you'll be able to read more about that trip
in next week's issue.

For the moment, though, let's take a look at the headlines around
the dial while we were away...

Back when we toiled in the radio business in MASSACHUSETTS, the
buzzword du jour was "synergy," as radio stations, TV newsrooms and
newspapers fought to see who could create the most alliances with
erstwhile competitors.

This week, though, the object of the game appears to be just the
opposite, as radio, TV and newspapers all engaged in what looks like
one big catfight.

It all started, apparently, with the Boston Globe's 1999
decision to ban its sports reporters from the Glenn Ordway show on
WEEI (850 Boston). That ban didn't provoke much of a media frenzy,
but last week, when the Globe extended the ban to WEEI's
morning show, hosts John Dennis and Gerry Callahan decided to make an
issue out of it.

Globe columnist Eileen McNamara fanned the flames when
she then wrote a column (against editors' orders, it seems) about
being banned. The Globe declined to publish the column,
and McNamara then decided to go on the Dennis/Callahan show in
violation of the ban.

That's not the end of the cross-media fireworks lighting the sky over
Boston Harbor, though: WEEI itself has been playing the ban game,
exiling Globe writers from its other shows (which were
still acceptable to Globe editors, since the content
actually focused on sports instead of the typical male-oriented
morning show fodder.)

Oh yeah...WEEI has also barred the Herald's Jim Baker
from its airwaves.

Meanwhile, across town on Soldiers Field Road, the once-friendly
relationship between WBZ (1030) and sister station WBZ-TV (Channel 4)
turned sour last week when radio talk host David Brudnoy invited WCVB
(Channel 5) anchor-icon Natalie Jacobson to be a guest on his 25th
anniversary show.

The Herald's Monica Collins reported Saturday that the guest stint,
which put Channel 4 anchor Joe Shortsleeve in the odd position of
having to do a radio cut-in promoting his 11 PM show right in the
midst of his competitor's appearance, prompted a memo from 'BZ-TV
general manager Ed Goldman that put the brakes on the long cooperation
between the radio and TV sides at 1170 Soldiers Field Road.

Collins says the memo bans (there's that word again!) WBZ radio
personalities from appearing on Channel 4, stops radio news crews from
using the TV side's gear, and halts the shared promotions between the
two stations.

(Not mentioned in the article is the biggest part of the WBZ TV-radio
synergy, WBZ radio's use of audio clips from and gathered by TV
reporters in the field. At least in the days when we worked there,
the audio from TV was essential to supplement the output of all three
-- count 'em -- radio reporters in the field.)

Of course, radio and TV have shared one big (now presumably
not-so-happy) newsroom since 1996; we imagine there must be quite a
chill in the air there these days.

Just to make matters a little stranger at WBZ-TV, there's word that
veteran anchor Liz Walker may soon be leaving Channel 4 for good.
Walker left the station's evening shows last year, shifting to the
noon news to spend more time with her family. Now the
Herald's Inside Track reports she's applied to Harvard
Divinity School and will walk away from TV news if she's accepted.

By the way, lost in all the acrimony: a very happy anniversary to
Dr. Brudnoy! His radio career included stops at the old WHDH and
WRKO, if we recall correctly, before his arrival at WBZ in the
eighties.

Elsewhere in the Bay State, the new formats are now fully in place
on Ernie Boch's Cape Cod FMs. WTWV (101.1 Mashpee), now doing hot AC
as "the Wave," even has an airstaff in place: Mina and Doug in
mornings, operations manager Boy Troy in middays and music director
Lisa Garvey in afternoons. Down the hall at modern rock WDVT (93.5
Harwich Port), music director Peter Maxx is also serving as production
director for the entire Boch group. "The Vault" is jockless for the
moment, but we're told that will change.

It wasn't nearly as tasteless as that "Mayor Menino is dead" stunt
that got Opie and Anthony fired a few April Fools Days ago, but WFNX
(101.7 Lynn) suspended morning team "Jaxon and the Pharmacist" for a
day after a pre-April 1 stunt in which they claimed the foot-and-mouth
disease scare was forcing a recall of meat.

Radio (and TV) people on the move: Lynn Hoffman is leaving her
sidekick position on WBMX (98.5 Boston)'s John Lander morning show to
pursue a career in TV and voice-over work. We hear the Lander crew is
looking for a replacement. Over on the TV side, Jodi Applegate may
finally have something to do at WFXT (Channel 25), which brought her
to Boston from NBC a few months back. Published reports say the Fox
O&O will use Applegate as the main anchor when it launches a 6:30 PM
newscast in June. And our best wishes for a speedy recovery to talk
legend Jerry Williams, who's at Mass General Hospital recovering from
a heart attack he suffered last week. Williams' health problems ended
his most recent on-air gig, at the now-defunct WMEX (1060 Natick) last
year. (Actually, it turned out to be a stroke...read on)

It's "beisbol" time, and it'll be a good year for Spanish-speaking Red
Sox fans: the team is moving its Spanish-language broadcasts from a
limited schedule on the old Carter network (flagshipped by WROL 950
Boston) to a full 162-game schedule on "Caliente 1330" (WRCA Waltham).
No word just yet on whether the Spanish broadcasts will be heard in
places like Springfield or Providence this season. (Next week, we'll
offer our traditional look at English-language baseball on the radio
around NERW-land...)

We'll make VERMONT our next stop as we flesh out the rumors to
which we alluded last issue. Clear Channel is indeed shifting some of
its Burlington-market signals, and it plays out something like this:

The smooth jazz that was this year's format on WXPS (96.7 Willsboro
NY) showed up on another spot on the dial Monday morning, replacing
oldies on WLCQ (92.1 Port Henry NY). Once that temporary simulcast
ends, 96.7 will reportedly become WXZO, "the Zone," simulcasting talk
programming (including Imus in the Morning) from WEAV (960 Plattsburgh
NY). 96.7 was talk once before, doing sports back before its
smooth-jazz days -- and it was simulcasting WEAV back then, too!

We're also hearing about some tweaking going on down in the Middlebury
area, as Steve Silberberg gets to work on WRRO (93.7 Addison). Gone,
we're told, is much of the classic rock, replaced by AAA-ish fare such
as Paula Cole and Elvis Costello. And if that sounds reminiscent of
Silberberg's Boston-market "River" (WXRV 92.5 Haverhill MA), it
should: we're also told the River folks are advising WRRO on
programming.

Just across the river in NEW HAMPSHIRE, Clear Channel is
consolidating some of its new acquisitions, rolling "Bob Country"
(WMXR 93.9 Woodstock VT/WCFR-FM 93.5 Springfield VT) in with "Kixx
Country" (WXXK 100.5 Hanover NH). The stations are being programmed
from the Kixx facility, and we're told Bob Country PD Heath Cole has
left the group, landing instead at Vox's WWOD (104.3 Hartford VT).

We also hear WCFR-FM has been operating at exciter power for a bit,
thanks apparently to power problems from all that ice and snow at
winter's end.

And speaking of WWOD, Vox made its purchase of the station official
this week, paying $1.075 million to get the signal from Alex McEwing's
Family Radio group.

Just one lil' Granite State note away from the Upper Valley: WHOB
(106.3 Nashua) has launched a new
Web site.

You want MAINE news? We've got it...beginning with a partial
break of a long-running simulcast way Down East in Machias, where
WALZ-FM (95.3) has been nothing but a relay of Calais' WQDY
(1230/92.7) for the last few years. Now it's doing its own thing from
6-11 AM weekdays, spinning classic country tunes as "Classic Country
Z95-3," then returning to the classic hits simulcast with Calais for
the rest of the day.

(We're also told the soon-to-expire CP for WBEO 101.1 Machias will be
allowed to quietly die, what with the economic downturn and all.)

In Bangor, Clear Channel appears to be moving in on still more of the
market. The company already owns a cluster of seven FMs (hot ac WKSQ
94.5 Ellsworth, classic rock simulcast WNSX 97.7 Winter Harbor/WFZX
101.7 Searsport, country WLKE 99.1 Bar Harbor, oldies WGUY 102.1
Dexter, talk WVOM 103.9 Howland and country WBFB 104.7 Belfast). Now
there's word that Clear Channel is LMA'ing the Gopher Hill group that
includes Bangor's standards WABI (910) and AC WWBX (97.1) along with
Camden's AC WQSS (102.5) and Islesboro's standards WAYD (105.5), which
edge into Clear Channel's new holdings in Rockland, WRKD (1450) and
WMCM (103.3).

Local media speculation up there suggests something would have to be
spun off, and the rumor is that WGUY might be the sacrificial
lamb...stay tuned.

Next stop, RHODE ISLAND and a surprise station sale and format
change: Pawtucket's WICE (550) dropped its talk format ("550 the
Buzz") Monday morning (4/2) to become the second Radio Disney
affiliate in the Providence market. Owner AAA Entertainment (formerly
Back Bay Broadcasting) is selling WICE to Disney for what we hear is a
price north of $3 million.

Radio Disney's already heard in part of Providence over WHRC (1450
West Warwick), but it appears that signal is being spun off to ADD
Media to become a relay of dollar-a-holler talker WARL (1320
Attleboro), which explains the apparently premature mention of the
1450 signal on WARL's site a couple of months ago.

Meanwhile, the format change on WICE (ex-WLKW, ex-WPNW, ex-WICE,
ex-WGNG, ex-WPAW...did we forget any?) takes Yankees day games off the
air in southern New England after years in which the Red Sox' chief
rivals were about the only constant thing on 550 kHz. Night games, of
course, come in just fine on New York's WABC (770), if you're the kind
of baseball fan who believes a World Series can be bought -- oops, is
our bias showing here? (WICE will keep Providence Bruins hockey on
the air through what's left of the AHL season.)

A quiet week in CONNECTICUT, with just a few staffing changes to
mention: at Danbury's WRKI (95.1 Brookfield), Tim Sheehan arrives as
program director to replace Tom Bass, recently departed to Hartford
and WHCN. Sheehan will also handle the afternoon shift being vacated
by Andy Carlisle, who's leaving "I-95" to become music director at
KVUU (99.9 Colorado Springs CO). Across town at "98Q" (WDAQ 98.3
Danbury), news guy Guy Lambert has departed; a replacement is being
sought.

NEW YORK's radio scene had the good graces to stay fairly quiet
while we were away...but there were still a few changes going on,
starting in Binghamton at the Clear Channel compound on Country Club
Road. That's where WINR (680) is now programming a classic country
format for most of the day. Mornings on the city's best AM signal are
now a simulcast of the "Jerry and Dave Breakfast Flakes" show on Clear
Channel's country "B107.5" (WBBI 107.5 Endwell), but after that the AM
side breaks off for local shows with Bill Flynn (late of WNBF 1290,
and more recently hosting mornings on WINR's previous standards
incarnation) in middays and Ray Ross in the afternoon.

With B107.5 playing new country sounds and WINR catering to the Hank
Williams, Jr. fans, Clear Channel appears to be trying to steal every
ratings point it can from the market's top-rated country outlet,
Citadel's WHWK (98.1). This should be fun to watch (and when was the
last time we said that about Binghamton radio?)

Up north, WNYF-LP (Channel 25) in Watertown is about to launch as the
city's new Fox affiliate, though color bars are all that's being seen
at the moment. When the signal does sign on for real, as a
partnership between WWNY (Channel 7) and Smith Broadcasting, it will
feature a WWNY-produced 10 PM newscast anchored by Theresa Fulcher.

Down Route 3 a bit, Ackerley's WWTI (Channel 50) is preparing to
challenge WWNY's monopoly of weekend news. April 21 is the scheduled
start date for WWTI's Saturday and Sunday shows at 6 and 11 PM. NERW
hopes that by then, WWTI will have repaired its transmitter, which we
hear is currently down, relegating WWTI to cable-only status.

(Also a victim of recent storm damage: WNYV 94.1 Whitehall NY, on the
Vermont border north of Glens Falls. We're told work is underway at
the station's mountaintop site to get back on the air, while simulcast
WVNR 1340 Poulteney VT keeps the signal going for most listeners.)

Two more notes from up north: WYSI (96.1 Norwood) is back on the air
for now, still running what appears to be an interim simulcast of
Canton's WVLF (96.7). WRCD (101.5 Canton) has named Danny James its
new PD, bringing him up from Jackson, Mississippi. Could this mean
more live programming and less satellite at "Rock 101"?

Albany weathercaster Norm Sebastian, who died of cancer late last
year, wanted donations in his memory to be made to Boston's
Dana-Farber Cancer Center, but a group of WNYT (Channel 13) staffers
is taking things a bit further this month. "Norm's Team" will run the
Boston Marathon April 16, with all the money they raise going to
Dana-Farber. Before heading to Beantown, the runners will get their
carbs at a pasta dinner April 8 at Albany's Armory Center. The event,
being held from 5-8 PM, will also raise money in Sebastian's memory.

Down on Long Island, the FCC has given Polnet the go-ahead to purchase
WLIM (1580 Patchogue) from Jack Ellsworth's Long Island Music, so look
for the standards to give way to Polish any day now.

A petition to deny has been filed against WMNR (88.1 Monroe CT)'s new
translator in Mount Kisco. Bruce Elving's "FMedia!" carried a letter
this month from a listener in the area who says the new W205BM (88.9)
is preventing him from hearing WFDU (89.1) over in Teaneck, N.J.

Crossing the Hudson into NEW JERSEY, there's still an attempt
underway to squeeze a 91.9 translator onto the dial, just two channels
away from New York's WXRK (92.3). Auricle Communications, the folks
who own WFMU (91.1 East Orange), have filed a petition for
reconsideration for their Union City 91.9 translator application,
recently dismissed by the FCC. WFMU just finished raising over half a
million dollars in its March pledge drive; it's also turned on WAJW
(89.9 Chesterton IN) outside Chicago, though we hear there are no
legals running on the midwestern outlet, just the East Orange (and
WXHD 90.1 Mount Hope NY) ID.

Down at the other end of the Garden State, the WUSS calls have
returned to AM 1490 in Pleasanton, which has been serving Atlantic
City as sports WGYM for the last few years. While WUSS reverts to its
old gospel format, the ESPN sports and the WGYM calls move down the
road to the former WONZ (1580) in Hammonton.

We'll have much more on PENNSYLVANIA next week when we recount our
trip to Pittsburgh and back, but in the meantime...

There's a new simulcast in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre market, as WMGS
(92.9 Scranton) extends its already substantial signal to the north by
adding WEMR-FM (107.7 Tunkhannock). WEMR-FM had been simulcasting
fellow Citadel station WBHT (97.1 Mountain Top), but the need for that
simulcast went away, in large part, when 'BHT added WBHP (94.3
Carbondale) to its roster last year.

Down the road in Williamsport, there are now call letters to go with
public radio WVIA's new construction permit on 89.7: WVYA Williamsport
will accompany WVIA-FM Scranton on 89.9.

Between those two markets, little WRPA (103.9 Laporte) has been sold.
Theodore Saul, Jr. hands over the station to Kevin Fitzgerald's Smith
& Fitzgerald Partnership, which means WRPA becomes a sister to
Binghamton's WCDW, Elmira's WPHD and still-unbuilt WMTG in South
Waverly. WRPA was doing satellite rock a couple of years ago, but had
reportedly gone silent in the last year or so.

A change of titles at Philadelphia's WUSL (98.9) and WJJZ (106.1):
WJJZ operations manager Anne Gress takes on the same duties for WUSL,
while WJJZ assistant program director/music director Michael Tozzi
moves up to PD, accompanied by Glenn Cooper making the same move up at
WUSL.

Across the state line in Ohio, some shuffling in the Youngstown market
finds Clear Channel selling off two little AMs. WRTK (1540 Niles) has
been simulcasting oldies WBBG (106.1 Niles), while religious WPAO
(1470 Farrell PA) was still owned by GOCOM, with Clear Channel holding
an option to purchase. For $300,000, both signals go to Dale Edwards'
D&E Broadcasting.

From CANADA comes a definite date for the end of music on
Toronto's 1050 CHUM. May 7 at 3 PM will be the transition to
all-sports, and you can bet a whole stack of loonies that NERW will be
up there to hear the changeover (with audio to follow on fybush.com by
late that evening!) More details on the many retrospective programs
will follow in next week's issue...

Pink slips were the order of the day this week at two stations in
Toronto and Hamilton: CFYI (Talk 640) in Toronto let a reported 11
people go, with morning drive becoming a simulcast of the Humble and
Fred show from CFNY (102.1 The Edge). Over at CIWV (94.7 Hamilton),
founding PD Jim Craig is out after just seven months, replaced by
Steve Kassay and a move towards less talk, news and traffic in favor
of more smooth jazz.

Kingston's CIKR (105.7) is now running full power as "K-Rock," and we
hear it's being well-heard across the St. Lawrence in New York's North
Country.

And up in Montreal, the Expos began their season with no
English-language radio deal -- and they're unlikely to get one.
Standard Broadcasting's CJAD (800) and CHUM Group's CKGM (990) both
turned down Expos offers that reportedly called for the team to keep
all the revenues while the station absorbed all the costs of the
broadcast. Listeners who "parlent francais" can hear the Expos on
CKAC 730.